New Scifi and Fantasy Releases: Week of June 1st

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Here is this week's selection of new releases, though I can't say that there are too many of them that really catch my eye. My Name is Memory, by Ann Brashares, looks like it could be a really good book - and in fact - it reminds me a lot of my favorite episode of Blood Ties. I've never given Rob Thurman much of a chance, but her newest book, Chimera, looks kind of interesting, and I might want to give that want a try.

How about you?Are there any new releases that you are particularly excited about?

As for me, I already have some great books lined up for this week, including The City and The City by China Miéville, Graceling by Kristin Cashore and Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews. I hope to get started on some of those just as soon as I finish with Jasper Fforde's Shades of Grey, which I'm really enjoying.

Hope you have a great reading week!





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Distant Thunders: Destroyermen

Taylor Anderson

Genre: Alternate History

Publisher: Roc

Release Date: June 1

Description: The fourth thrilling adventure in the Destroyermen series.

After the battle in which the men of the destroyer Walker and their Lemurian allies repelled the savage Grik, Lieutenant Commander Matthew Reddy is shocked by the arrival of a strange ship captained by one Commodore Jenks of the New Britain Imperial Navy-an island-nation populated by the descendants of British East Indiamen swept through the rift centuries before.

With the Walker undergoing repairs, Reddy already has a great deal on his hands. For the Grik will return, and Reddy will need all hands on deck to fight them off when they next attack. But Jenks' uncertain loyalties make Reddy question whether he can trust the man.

As tension between the Allies and the Imperials mount, Reddy will come to realize that his suspicions are not misplaced-and that a greater danger than the Grik is closer than he ever suspected...

My Name is Memory

Ann Brashares

Genre: Contemporary Fantasy

Publisher: Riverhead

Release Date: June 1

Description: Virginia high-school student Lucy is inexplicably drawn to classmate Daniel, but when he claims to have known her before, a thoroughly unsettled Lucy flees. Gradually, Lucy learns the impossible truth: Daniel has been chasing her through ages and lives for 1,200 years. In chapters that alternate viewpoints between the two lovers, past and present, the couples’ unrequited desire builds, even as a murderous soul threatens their reunion. Steamy bedroom scenes aside, the coming-of-age sensibility will feel familiar to crossover adult fans of Brashares’ best-selling Traveling Pants series for teens. Readers tantalized by the possibilities of past lives and soul-mate connections will devour this unabashed romance, which has the heart-pounding pace and tone of a beach novel, and hope for the sequel hinted at in the open ending. Suggest John Fowles’ The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1969) while they wait. --Gillian Engberg

The Infinity Gate (Darkglass Mountain #3)

Sara Douglas

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Harper Collins

Release Date: June 1

Description: Sara Douglas fans have been eagerly awaiting the third book of her epic DarkGlass Mountain fantasy trilogy and now the dramatic conclusion is here! The Infinity Gate, a magnificent tale of love, magic, and betrayal set in the world of her bestselling Wayfarer Redemption has the sweep, passion, and excitement of the best world-building efforts of Jacqueline Carey, Raymond E. Feist, Robin Hobb, and Lois McMaster Bujold, as it brings Douglas’s breathtaking fantasy saga to a powerful and extraordinarily satisfying end.

Bullet (Anita Blake, Bk #19)

Laurell K. Hamilton

Genre: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Penguin Group

Release Date: June 1

Description: Anita Blake is back in St. Louis and trying to live a normal life—as normal as possible for someone who is a legal vampire executioner and a U. S. Marshal. There are lovers, friends and their children, school programs to attend. In the midst of all the ordinary happiness a vampire from Anita's past reaches out. She was supposed to be dead, killed in an explosion, but the Mother of All Darkness is the first vampire, their dark creator. It's hard to kill a god. This dark goddess has reached out to her here—in St. Louis, home of everyone Anita loves most. The Mother of All Darkness has decided she has to act now or never, to control Anita, and all the vampires in America.

The Mother of All Darkness believes that the triumvirate created by master vampire Jean-Claude with Anita and the werewolf Richard Zeeman has enough power for her to regain a body and to immigrate to the New World. But the body she wants to possess is already taken. Anita is about to learn a whole new meaning to sharing her body, one that has nothing to do with the bedroom. And if the Mother of All Darkness can't succeed in taking over Anita's body for herself, she means to see that no one else has the use of it, ever again. Even Belle Morte, not always a friend to Anita, has sent word: "Run if you can..."

Zendegi

Greg Egan

Genre: Science Fiction

Publisher: Night Shade Books

Release Date: June 1

Description: Set in a near future Iran (where the theocracy has been overthrown, but where Muslim religion still dominates the culture), an Arab/Muslim focused MMORG gaming companies cutting edge AI software might hold the key achieving "uploaded consciousness."

Martin is an Australian journalist who covered uprising and overthrow of the Iranian theocracy, and has since "gone native" with a Iranian wife and child. As tragedy strikes his multi-cultural family, Martin struggles to maintain his place in his adapted culture, and to provide for his child.

Zendigi explores what it means to be human, and the lengths one will go to in order to provide for ones children. This emotional roller coaster explores a non-Western-European near future that both challenges ideas of global mono-culture and emphasizes the humanity we all share.

Faery Moon (A Tess Noncoire Adventure)

P. R. Frost

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: DAW

Release Date: June 1

Description: Tess Noncoire, a successful fantasy writer, is in Vegas for a writers' conference. Of all its sights, the most surprising is a group of faeries kidnapped to perform in a casino. If Tess and her sidekick, Scrap, don't return these winged dancers to their home, their dimension may be erased forever.

Who Fears Death

Nnedi Okorafor

Genre: Science Fiction, Post Apocolypse

Publisher: DAW

Release Date: June 1

Description: In a far future, post-nuclear-holocaust Africa, genocide plagues one region. The aggressors, the Nuru, have decided to follow the Great Book and exterminate the Okeke. But when the only surviving member of a slain Okeke village is brutally raped, she manages to escape, wandering farther into the desert. She gives birth to a baby girl with hair and skin the color of sand and instinctively knows that her daughter is different. She names her daughter Onyesonwu, which means "Who Fears Death?" in an ancient African tongue.

Reared under the tutelage of a mysterious and traditional shaman, Onyesonwu discovers her magical destiny-to end the genocide of her people. The journey to fulfill her destiny will force her to grapple with nature, tradition, history, true love, the spiritual mysteries of her culture-and eventually death itself.

Is Anybody Out There

Nick Gevers - Editor

Marty Halpern – Editor

Genre: Science Fiction

Publisher: DAW

Release Date: June 1

Description: Are we alone in the universe, and if not, who else-or what else-is out there? Here are thought-provoking stories that explore such questions as: Do intelligent species invariably destroy themselves by nuclear war or ecological collapse? Are the sentient aliens that do exist just too far away? Do they exist in forms beyond our comprehension? Are they among us, but undetectable? These are just some of the possibilities explored by a stellar lineup of contributors.

The Secret Child

Marti Healy

Genre: Historical Fantasy

Publisher: Design Group Press

Release Date: June 1

Description: A timeless tale, written in a very lyrical style, The Secret Child appeals to a wide range of ages; one of those favorite books cherished by more than one generation. Set in 1855, the central character is a thirteen-year-old girl, Marika—an Irish Traveller—running between her thribli, or clan, in Boston and her arranged marriage with a gypsy leader named Jacko in the Midlands of South Carolina. Marika's five-year-old brother Danny is with her, but falls ill and dies on the journey. Cautiously, she allows herself to form relationships with a free black man, Joseph, and a Quaker woman, Maggie. The book interweaves highly unexpected subjects and issues, such as slavery, human rights, and other harsh realities of 19th century South Carolina, along with a mystical, light-and-shadows world of ''Fairies'' who inhabit a nearby heavily forested Carolina Bay. The Fairies of the Carolina Bay have an ancient Celtic history; no tiny wings and fairy dust, these are true spirits of the woods. The Fairies accept Marika to live among them until she can determine what she wants for her future. She is pursued relentlessly and cruelly by the gypsy Jacko, befriended with great loyalty by Joseph and Maggie, and protected unwaveringly by the spirits of the forest. But, in the end, it is up to her to decide between her realities.

The Shadow Hunt

Katherine Langrish

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Eos

Release Date: June 1

Description: Wolf is on the run—from the oppressive monastery where he was raised, from the ghosts and demons that haunt the windswept moors of Devil's Edge, and from the shadows in the landscape that resemble the Devil himself.

When Wolf rescues a strange child on Devil's Edge, he takes her to a grand castle hoping to win the favor of its ruler. There he strikes up an unlikely friendship with a girl named Nest, and he thinks he's finally found a place to call home. Wolf is determined to fit in, but not everything is as it seems at the castle. Dark forces are conspiring against Wolf and Nest, and a sinister enemy is looming closer than they could ever realize.

With lies masquerading as reality, will Wolf and Nest learn who they can trust . . . before it's too late?

Critically acclaimed author Katherine Langrish has created a wonderfully spooky and richly imagined world of ghosts and magical creatures, where good may be evil and light may give way to dark.

Mouse and Dragon

Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

Genre: Science Fiction

Publisher: Baen

Release Date: June 1

Description: Aelliana Caylon has endured much, and finally, she appears to have won all: a spaceship, comrades, friends -- and the love of a pilot she adores.

Even better that her lover—the man who was destined for her, a man as much a loner as she—is also the Delm of Korval, arguably the most powerful person on all of Liad. He has the power to remove her and protect her from the toxic environment of her home Clan. Best of all, he agrees to sit as her co-pilot and her partner in a courier business.

Even happy endings sometimes show a few flaws. Such as Aelliana's home clan being not as agreeable to letting her go as it had first seemed. And the fact that someone is stealing pilots in the Low Port, which falls within the Delm of Korval's honor. Oh, and the revelation that the man she loves—the man who is destined for her—isn't entirely the man she thought he was. And finally, she discovers that even the lift from Liad she'd so fervently desired, is part of a larger plan, a plan requiring her to be someone she never thought she was, or could be.

Star Climber

Kenneth Opal

Genre: Science Fiction

Publisher: Eos

Release Date: June 1

Description: Pilot-in-training Matt Cruse and his love interest, Kate de Vries, an expert on high-altitude life-forms, are invited aboard the Starclimber, a vessel that literally climbs its way into the cosmos. Matt secretly plans on asking Kate to marry him, but before they even set foot aboard the ship, Kate announces her engagement—to someone else.

Despite this bombshell, and Matt's anguish, they embark on their journey into space, but soon the ship is surrounded by strange and unsettling life-forms, and the crew is forced to combat devastating mechanical failure. For Matt, Kate, and the entire crew of the Starclimber, what began as an exciting race to the stars has now turned into a battle to save their lives.

The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse

Robert Rankin

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Gollancz

Release Date: June 1

Description: Like a mad toymaker's fever dream, Rankin's uproarious book imagines a town where toys and nursery rhymes come to life and pursue human activities: they walk, talk, eat, drink and commit heinous crimes. Thirteen-year-old Jack goes to the City to find his fortune, unaware that the City is in fact Toy City, where legends and fables walk (or stumble, if they've had too much to drink). He meets up with detective teddy bear Eddie, who is investigating the murder of Humpty Dumpty. When Little Boy Blue is offed, it's clear that a serial killer is prowling Toy City, leaving behind the titular chocolate bunnies as his calling card. Rankin doesn't just drop names of familiar characters but gives them riotous back stories: Miss Muffett hosts a daytime TV talk show called "The Tuffet"; Mother Goose (who prefers to be called Madame Goose) runs a brothel; Humpty Dumpty was likely a failed television stuntman named Terry Horsey. Although the story is wickedly clever and the payoff is a great and satisfying surprise, the real delight comes from watching Rankin work his linguistic magic: characters talk in hilariously circular and self-aware dialogue, and puns and wordplay are packed into the prose like sardines in a tin. Although substantially darker and edgier than the Hitchhiker's series, this gem will appeal to Douglas Adams fans, as well as lovers of British humor in general.

Chimera

Rob Thurman

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Publisher: Roc

Release Date: June 1

Description: Ten years ago, Stefan Korsak's younger brother was kidnapped. Not a day has passed that Stefan hasn't thought about him. As a rising figure in the Russian mafia, he has finally found him. But when he rescues Lukas, he must confront a terrible truth-his brother is no longer his brother. He is a trained, genetically-altered killer. Now, those who created him will do anything to reclaim him. And the closer Stefan grows to his brother, the more he realizes that saving Lukas may be easier than surviving him...

Dreamveil: A Novel of the Kyndred

Lynn Viehl

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Onyx

Release Date: June 1

Description:

Rowan Dietrich grew up on the streets. Now she's out to start anew, find a job-and keep her identity as a Kyndred secret, as well as her ability to "dreamveil" herself into the object of others' desires.

But Rowan isn't using her gift when world-class chef Jean-Marc Dansant is stricken by her beauty and strength. And when dark secrets from her past threaten her new life and love, Rowan realizes she can't run forever...

Revenant

Phaedra Weldon

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Publisher: Ace

Release Date: June 1

Description: Zoë Martinique's life hasn't been ordinary for quite awhile. First she developed the ability to travel outside her body at will-where she encountered some seriously weird things. Things that left her with powers that she didn't really want or need. Still, a person can get used to almost anything- even being a Wraith. Though more often than not, it plays serious havoc with her love life.

But for once, Zoë is glad of her abilities. Bodies are showing up all over Atlanta, drained of blood. They're beings from another astral plane, called Revenants-and they're being stalked by her old enemy, the Phantasm. The Revenants are hardly the nicest of creatures-but to preserve the cosmic balance, Zoë will need to put everything on the line to save them...

From Hell With Love: A Secret Histories Novel

Simon R. Green

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Publisher: Roc

Release Date: June 1

Description: It's no walk in the park for a Drood, a member of the family that has protected humanity from the things that go bump in the night for centuries. They aren't much liked by the creatures they kill, by ungrateful humans, or even by one another.

Now their Matriarch is dead, and it's up to Eddie Drood, acting head of the family, to figure out whodunit. Unpopular opinion is divided: it was either Eddie's best girl, Molly. Or Eddie himself. And Eddie knows he didn't do it.